In Part One, we discussed the A.A. General Service
Conference-approved book, Experience, Strength
and Hope: Stories from the First Three Editions of Alcoholics Anonymous
(New York, NY: Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc., 2003). It elevated to
“Conference-approved” status the many personal stories from the first edition
of the Big Book (1939), the second edition (1955), and the third edition (1976)
that were not included in the fourth
edition (2001).

For example, of the 29 personal stories in the first edition,
22 were not included in the second edition. (The third edition contained the
same seven stories from the first edition that were included in the second
edition.) Four more of the stories from the first edition were not included in
the fourth edition. This left only three of the original 29 stories from the
first edition still present in the fourth edition: (1) “Dr. Bob’s Nightmare,”
the personal story of A.A. cofounder Dr. Bob; (2) “Our Southern Friend,” which
was substantially rewritten for the second edition; and (3) “The Fearful One,”
which was retitled “The Man Who Mastered Fear” and substantially rewritten for
the second edition.

We pointed to the questionable explanations in Experience, Strength and Hope for the
omission of so many of the first edition’s personal stories from later editions
of Alcoholics Anonymous. For example:

·“As a collection, . . . they [the personal
stories included in the first, second, and/or third editions that were omitted
from the fourth edition] greatly enrich our knowledge of ‘what we used to be like’ as a Fellowship.” (p.
xi).

·Many “of the A.A. writers [of the omitted
personal stories] got sober . . . in that
chaotic period when A.A. was ‘flying
blind’ and learning from its many
mistakes” (p. xi).

·The first edition’s personal stories omitted
from later editions “. . . take us back to the ‘trial and error’ days, . . .” (p. 2).

·“Some of the rough
edges found in the first edition stories (. . . , for example, references to specific religious beliefs,
. . .) would be smoothed out in those
chosen for later editions.” (pp. 2-3). [emphasis added in quotes above]

About This Part Two:

How the First Edition and Its Personal Stories, Accompanied by the Dick
B. Introduction in the Dover Publications Reprint, Can Really Help Drunks Seek
and Be Helped by God

Here in Part Two, we propose that those in 12-Step
Fellowships freely use today two major tools:

1.Experience, Strength & Hope (http://goo.gl/ypDmR). Point to, and boldly state,
the fact that all of the personal
stories included in the first, second, and third editions are now A.A. General Service
Conference-approved. And that it is thus entirely appropriate to quote from
them as part of carrying the message today to those who still suffer. This can
be done by presenting information from and about those stories directly from the
new A.A. General Service Conference-approved publication, Experience, Strength and Hope.

2.Alcoholics Anonymous: The Original 1939 Edition,
with a new Introduction by Dick B. (Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, Inc.,
2011) [http://goo.gl/OW5TY]. Use for general reading,
authoritative facts, and application of “old-school” A.A. principles today, Alcoholics Anonymous: The Original 1939
Edition: With a new Introduction by Dick B. This title will help you use
more effectively the first edition’s personal stories that were intended to
show how and why theoriginal, “old-school”
program—summarized in seven points by Frank Amos in DR.BOB and the Good Oldtimers at page 131—had produced the early successes
A.A. claimed (i.e., a 75% success rate overall and a 93% success rate documented
in Cleveland). To show how and why those successes were attained by relying on
God, accepting His Son Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, obeying God’s will,
using the Bible and prayer, and helping others. Bearing in mind and taking
special note that the personal stories did not and could not mention the Big
Book or the Twelve Steps because neither existed prior to the publication of Alcoholics Anonymous in April 1939.

What You Will Learn from Alcoholics
Anonymous: The Original 1939 Edition (Dover)

·You will see the facts for yourself as to
whether the Big Book language has been changed. (For example, check the wording
of Step Twelve in the first printing of the first edition of Alcoholics Anonymous.) And you will see
that the entire program based on Bill Wilson’s conversion at Calvary Mission
and spiritual experience at Towns Hospital was completely altered when the A.A.
solution, a “spiritual experience”—see chapter two in the Big Book (“There Is a
Solution”)—was replaced with a “spiritual awakening” and “the personality
change sufficient to bring about recovery from alcoholism.” [See “Appendix II:
Spiritual Experience,” pp. 567-68, in the fourth edition of Alcoholics Anonymous.]

·You will see from the original, first edition
personal stories just how many times Jesus Christ and Christianity were
mentioned, how many times the Bible was mentioned, and how very frequently
reliance on God (not some nonsense god or illusory higher power) was stressed.

·You will see from the extensive Introduction by
Dick B. the importance of the first edition personal stories; e.g., the precise
places where God, Christianity, and the Bible were mentioned; and how these
stories fit so neatly with the real Akron A.A. “Christian fellowship” program
that has been the subject of so many Dick B. books and articles. See, for
example: The Dick B. Christian Recovery
Guide, 3rd ed., 2010.

If you think you are an atheist, an
agnostic, a skeptic, or have any other form of intellectual pride which keeps
you from accepting what is in this book, I feel sorry for you. . . . Your
Heavenly Father will never let you down!

2.“The Unbeliever,” pp. 194-205:

I asked him desperately what it
was. And he said, “God.”

. . . [I]f I will humble myself, if
I will give in and bow in submission to that SOMETHING and then try to lead a
life as fully in accord with my idea of good as possible, I will be in tune. And
later the word good contracted in his mind to God.

God, have mercy on my soul!

3.“The European Drinker,” pp. 206-16:

You can’t win unless you try God’s
way.

. . . [H]e made God seem personal
to me, explained Him as a being who was interested in me, the alcoholic, and
that all I needed to do was to follow His way; that as long as I followed it I
would be able to overcome my desire for liquor.

And he further said that God would
not accept me as a sincere follower of His Divine Law unless I was ready to be
thoroughly honest about it.

That day I gave my will to God and
asked to be directed. . . . So I began to pray; to place my problems in God’s
hands.

I have proven to myself and to many
others who know me that God can keep a man sober if he will let him.

4.“A Feminine Victory,” pp. 217-25:

The ability to accept them as my
own has been derived from trying with the un-ending help of God. . . .

He asked me if I believed in God. .
. . Well, I did believe in God. . . .

“Our Father which art in Heaven.”

I had been taught to realize there
is a God and to “love” him.

“Here it is God, all mixed up. I
don’t know how to un-mix it, I’ll leave it to you”

Finally I . . . briefly asked God
to show me how to do what He wanted me today.

Well, I got the Bible and
“Victorious Living” [Victorious Living
is a book read widely by early AAs and written by E. Stanley Jones—whose books
Dr. Bob’s wife recommended as “all good.”] and sitting down in full view of the
bottle of whiskey, I commenced to read. I also prayed.

I must keep myself worthy of
Divine help.

5.“Our Southern Friend,” pp. 226-41:

Suddenly a thought comes. Can all
the worthwhile people I have known be wrong about God?

“Who are you to say there is no
God?” It rings in my head. I can’t get rid of it.

I tumble out of bed onto my knees.
I know not what I say. But slowly a great peace comes to me. I feel lifted up.
I believe in God. I crawl back into bed and sleep like a child.

Today as I become more harmonized
within, I become more in tune with all of God’s wonderful creation. . . . [A]nd
a host of other things tell me of the glory of God.

And with
it, direction by the Spirit of God.

And above all else comes a greater
thankfulness to, and a greater love for Our Father in heaven.

6.“A Business Man’s Recovery,”pp. 242-51:

The thing that Bill told me was his
own story. . . . I had always believed in God even though I was not a devout church
goer.

Crazy as the idea seemed when
broached to me by these men who had found it worked, God did come right into my
work, when permitted, as He had come into the other activities connected with
my life.

7.“Traveler, Editor, Scholar,” pp. 254-64. A.A. itself wrote:
“Originally published under the title ‘Traveler, Editor, Scholar’ in the first
edition. The title was changed to ‘The News Hawk’ and the story was edited for the second edition.” (Experience, Strength and Hope, 268) (emphasis
added)]

I found my friend was there for alcoholism
and now he was insisting that he had found the only cure. I listened to him,
rather tolerantly. I noticed a Bible on his table and it amazed me. I had never
known him to be anything but a good healthy pagan with a propensity for getting
into liquor jams and scrapes.

I had never, since the believing days of
childhood, been able to conceive an authority directly the universe. But I had
never been a flippant, wise-cracking sneerer at the few persons I had met who
had impressed me as Christian men and women. . . . No conviction was necessary
to establish my status as a miserable failure at managing my own life. I began
to read the Bible daily . . .

I can remember the urge of the Prodigal Son
to return to his Father. . . .

. . . in those days I had no one to whom I
might take my troubles. Today I have. Today I have Someone who will always hear
me . . .

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About Me

Richard G. Burns holds a Doctor of Jurisprudence degree from Stanford University where he was Case Editor of the Stanford Law Review. He was a Phi Beta Kappa in his Junior Year at UC Berkeley. There he received an A.A. degree in economics with Honorable Mention. He was an Information and Education Specialist in the United States Army where he held the rank of Sgt. He attended the information-education school at Washington & Lee University. He practiced law in California from 1951 to 1986. He was president of the Corte Madera Chamber of Commerce, Corte Madera Center Merchants Council, Mill Valley Community Church, Redwoods Retirement Center, and Almonte District Improvemen Club. Also elected Director of the Almonte Sanitary District. He is a writer, historian, retired attorney, Bible student, CDAAC, and active recovered member of the fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous with continuous sobriety beginning April 21, 1986.

He writes under the pen name Dick B. He has devoted 24 years to researching the history and successes of the early A.A. Christian Fellowship in Akron; and published 46 titles, more than 1450 articles, and materials on Facebook, Twitter, MauiHistorian.Blogspot.com, Alcoholics Anonymous History.com, In the Rooms, Linked-in, Tumbler, MauiHistorian.Word Press.com, Aa Historian WordPress.com, AA History with Dick B. on cyber recovery social, Dick B. YouTube Channel, Articles Base, GoArticles.com, SearchWarp, Self Growth Experts, Social network forums on International Christian Recovery Coalition Forums, Recovery Internet Fellowship, Cyber Recovery, Daily Recovery, Christian Recovery Ministries, radio, TV, and over 70 audio blogs on the history subject. He regularly conducts radio interviews of Christian Recovery Leaders and Workers on www.ChristianRecoveryRadio.com.

He is Executive Director of the International Christian Recovery Coalition and of Freedom Ranch Maui Incorporated. He is an Advisor to God's Way Ministry, a Christian Church and is also a consultant to Wyoming Pacific Oil Company. Listed in Marquis Who's Who in the World, Who's Who in America, Who's Who in Law, Who's Who in Finance, and Gale's Contemporary Authors